Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

814 NUMMUS. NUMMUUS.
(libra, XrTpa) was identified, not, as some have obols, which may be regarded as forming the
supposed, with the naina, but with the half minac of crTaTp, or chief coin, of the Sicilian system also:
the Aeginetan scale; and, consequently, that 120 that then, the obol, being identified with the Atrpa,
pounds went to the talent, as we are expressly in- was subdivided, just like the Italian pound, from
formed by the Tauromenian inscription; and that which its name was derived, into twelve parts or
copper money was coined in conformity with this ounces (6'ycldat, oubyriaL, i. e. unciae), each of which
standard. was a chalcus (XaAhKos: what this chalcus really
Pollux (ix. 80-82) refers to Aristotle's Polity was, we shall presently endeavour to show).
of the Hinzmeracans, for an account of several de- As to the intermediate parts of the pound or
nlominations of Sicilian coins, and of these he men- ArTpa, it is evident, from the explanation which
tions the obi-ycla, as equal in va.lue to one chalcus; Pollux gives of &3ias and rp!ias, that he supposed
the a,~as, equal to two chalci; the Tpmtas to three; them to be named from the number of ounces they
the l7tiUArLpom to six; and the Mlrpa, whichi is an contained, as was clearly the case with the reeobol; the 8EKcdXTrpov, he adds, still quoting Aris-'rC7'YK1OY, according to the analogy of which, if the
totle, is worth, ten obols, and is thea Cointhian stater. idea of Pollux had been right, Fttas and'rptc5s
Ile then proceeds to state that there were many would have been respectively L&'yctmov and'rpmcuypassages of the Attic, as well as the Dorian, co- iKoe (like terunmcius). Bentley has conclusively
medians, in which these coins were alluded to, and shown (quoted by Bibclkh, p. 293) that, in this
he quotes lines froul Diphilus, and from Epichar- matter, the Greek grammarians fell into a very
imus, in which mention is made of the A-rpa, the natural error, through not understanding a system
7,UilATpoV, the it 4vTrov (a diminution of ixs), foreign to that of their language, and that, in fact,
the 7reVTcirytov, and the aercdtxrTpos rTa'rep, as the parts of the litra were named, as the general
silver coins. A little before this, he quotes fiom rule, not from the number of ounces they contained
Aristotle's Polity of the Agrigenztines the statement, (except in the case of the 7reVTc'rSyrCoV, like the
that the litra was equal in value to an Aetqiletan Latin quincunnx, an exception easily accounted
obol. (Compare, to the same effect, Pollux, iv. for by the difficulty of expressing the fraction
174, 175.) 5-12ths by a single word), but from the fractionall
From these statements, it appears that, in the part of the litra. which each of them was equal to,
Sicilian silver money, the Eubofc and Aeginetan jtust as in the Latin system. The following table
scales were connected just as we have seen that shows the whole scale, with the corresponding
they already were in one of the systems, from Latin names, and with the values of the coins in
which the Sicilian money was derived, namely, in silver obols of the Aegincetan standard and in the
the Corinthian didrachm or stater of ten Aeginetan copper coins called chalci:Denominations. Valutes.
OroaTh'p or 3e-} j iIa 0 asses, decussis 10 obols or
A TpZ = 12 oorytiam = as or libia 1 obol - 12 calci
iitlTPOv (3 -A = 6sei.,, 6
rev rciycrov 5,, = qinx 5
pmas 4 5 1 = trie'ss i 5 af 4 s
rerpa s = 3,, { q —uadraas or t = 3
tctips = 2,, = sextans - 2,,
omyticla = 1 9 n = umcia —,, 1,,
Just as in the Latin system, so in the Graeco- (Varro, L. L. v. 36. s. 67, ed. Miiller; Pollux, ix.
Sicilian, there seem to have been no coins between 79; Festus, s. v.; Suid. s. v. do'uos.) Pollux (i.c.)
the half and whole Atrpa. Thus, in the second quotes two passages from Epicharmus, in which
passage quoted by Pollux from Epicharmus, a the word is used il the specific sense, for a partisuIm of money is expressed as consisting of ALrpa cular coin; and he adds the statement, from
teal SEICadixpos TrarTip, e'rtvTLov T e Kas rev'r7oyICov. Aristotle's Polity of tle Tarenstines, that voOvItos is
Even as denominations of weight we have (so far the name applied by them to a coin, on which
as we know) no terms correspondiing to the Latin Taras was represented carried on a dolphin. The
septunx, bes, dodrans, dexztans, and dleunx. Bbckh grammarians gave the value of the Sicilian nsumsupposes that this system was introduced in Sicily mus as 1- Attic obols, in connection with a small
about 01. 40 or 50, n. c. 620 or 580. talent, peculiar to Sicily, or rather two such talents,
The worth of the chief coin in this system, the the older containing 24 snummnzi aIld the later 12.
silver litra, or Aeginetan silver obol, must evidently From a careful criticism of these statements, and
be assumed to have been, like the Italian libra, from an examination of the extant coins, Bbckh
the value of a pound-weight of copper. comes to the conclusion, that the znummus was
The gold money of this scale has already been originally the same as the litra, hut that, when
spoken of under DaMn ARETlo N. the Attic standard came into comnmon use, this
For further details on the whole subject, see nuim7n7tms or litra was diminished by I-10th, in
Bbickh, Alhetrol. Unterslclh. c. xix. order to bring it into conforlnity with that scale;
Besides the litra, we find the word 2iunmamtus and by this change it became T~9 of the AeginIetan
(vosLutxos) itself in the Sicilian system as the name obol, which is equal to 1 -Attic obols, or the
of a particular coin. The Greek origin of the fourth part of an Attic drachma. This we get
word is attested by several of the grammnarians. the simple law by which the Sicilian money was